Use of Carbon-14 in Radiocarbon Dating Chemistry Tutorial

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Play the game now! Radiocarbon Dating When a plant or animal dies it stops taking in carbon-14 and radioactive decay begins to decrease the amount of carbon-14 in the tissues. The age of the plant or animal specimen containing carbon 14 dating worksheet, such as wood, bones, plant remains, is determined by measuring the ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-14.

carbon 14 dating problems

Purpose To develop the idea that carbon dating is based on gathering evidence in the present and extrapolating it to the past. Students will use a simple graph to extrapolate data to its starting point. Context This lesson is the third in a three-part series about the nucleus, isotopes, and radioactive decay. The first lesson, Isotopes of Pennies , deals with isotopes and atomic mass. By the end of the 8th grade, students should know that all matter is made up of atoms, which are far too small to see directly through a microscope.